Wages In The Fast Food Chains

November 03, 1985|By Kenneth F. Munro. Kenneth F. Munro is a freelance writer living in Chicago.

Why is it, that with the phenomenal growth of the fast-food franchise industry over the last two decades, the general economic inequality in the U.S. has steadily widened? More and more, the United States is coming to resemble a Third World country, where a small group of the wealthy hold power, served by the majority of the people who live in poverty.

Why is it that throughout the fast-food industry there is a growing disparity between the incomes of the well-paid managers and their minimum-wage workers? That as the U.S. moves into this two-tiered work force it is losing the upward mobility needed to stay a free society? The gap between the haves and have-nots increases year after year.

Of course, the low wages paid the workers in the fast-food industry does permit the financing of expensive marketing campaigns, high salaries for executives, and healthy profits for shareholders. This is one case where fat is better than lean. Lean pay for the workers and fat earnings for the rest in the industry.

Still, the franchise chains claim they cannot pay higher wages or benefits, such as health insurance and pensions, and still be competitive. At the same time, they depress pay levels throughout the rest of the restaurant industry. And their claim of not being able to pay higher wages was proven wrong when the fast-food companies moved to the foreign markets and were forced to pay higher salaries and offer more training to employees.

In Japan, where workers are held in high esteem as valued members of the company team and accustomed to lifetime employment, the part-time jobs, low wages and harsh conditions of American fast-food outlets are not tolerated. Under the system there, workers can be paid more because they are more productive. The higher salaries force a company to lower job turnover by employees and to take other steps to ensure that each worker produces more.

In the U.S., employees are subjected to arbitary shifts, long hours, drudgery and constant pressure from both sides of the counter--management and customers. Is it any wonder that the average fast-food worker in the U.S. quits in disgust after only three months on the job?

The idea behind the minimum wage in 1938 was to prevent worker exploitation, guaranteeing employed persons a decent wage. Today, not only is the minimum wage not a decent wage, it isn`t even a living wage.

But not content with paying the minimum wage, the fast-food industry has lobbied Congress for a subminimum wage for youths still in school. This would accomplish two things: lower wages for youths who would have been hired anyway, and decreased jobs for the growing number of older workers who are trying to support themselves and their families on the already minimum wage.

The only thing that the minimum wage ensures now is an unlimited supply of cheap and expendable young labor for the fast-food companies.

But take heart, America. In case those robber barons haven`t noticed, school enrollment is continually going down. Their supply of cheap labor is coming to an end.

The more these companies come to depend for their employees on those with families to house and feed, the sooner the fast-food industry`s gravy train will end. These older workers, who stay at the job for much longer than three months, will come to expect pay raises and benefits from their employers. And if they don`t receive them, unions won`t be far behind.

Remember, just because something is good for the likes of McDonald`s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and their ilk, it doesn`t mean it is good for America.